Cars to slash Aussie motorists’ fuel bill revealed

If you are worried about rising fuel costs then there is one sure fire way to slash hundreds off your fuel bill every year. See how.

Aussie motorists are feeling the pain as the fuel excise discount ends and petrol prices begin to soar.

But there is a solution: make your next car a hybrid.

Hybrids combine a petrol engine with a small electric motor and battery to cut fuel consumption by up to 50 per cent in bumper to bumper traffic.

The Toyota RAV4 Hybrid is one of the most popular new cars in Australia.

They cost more than regular petrol models – anything from $2500 to $7000 – but the payback period is getting shorter as petrol prices climb.

Aussies are voting with their wallets and hybrid sales are up 7 per cent this year in a market that’s down 2 per cent. Roughly one in every eight petrol cars sold now has a hybrid set-up.

Toyota has the hybrid market cornered, although Kia, Hyundai and Honda have all embraced the technology.

Toyota’s RAV4 Hybrid costs an extra $2500 over the equivalent petrol version.

The GXL 2WD Hybrid drinks an average of 4.7L/100km and the RAV4 GXL 2WD petrol uses 6L/100km on the official test cycle.

For a motorist who travels 15,000km and pays the current average fuel price of $1.85, the hybrid will save about $360 a year.

But the official lab test for average fuel consumption is skewed towards highway driving.

In the city, the gains are more dramatic, as the hybrid uses 4.7L/100km compared to the petrol version’s 7.1L/100km. The savings jump to $663 a year, a 34 per cent reduction in fuel bills.

The Kia Sorento and Toyota Kluger Hybrids can save you big dollars.

For larger families there are potentially even bigger savings.

The Toyota Kluger GX Hybrid trumps the equivalent petrol-only version by more than $750 a year. If you do most of your driving around town, your savings skyrocket to $1460 – or a fuel bill reduction of about 45 per cent.

At that rate buyers will pay off the $2500 hybrid premium in less than two years.

The savings are likely to be even higher in the real world. Testing has shown that while Toyota’s hybrids can hit the number on their fuel label, petrol cars generally overshoot the mark by a considerable margin.

If you drive mostly in city traffic then the Kluger Hybrid can save you about $1460 compared to the petrol version.

Kia has a growing range of hybrid SUVs, including the small Niro and large seven-seat Sorento. The front-wheel drive Sorento Hybrid drinks 5.3L/100km compared to 10L/100km for the petrol version. In a mix of highway and city driving, the hybrid Sorento will save owners $1299 a year and this jumps to more than $2400 if you drive exclusively around town. That makes for a 60 per cent saving on your fuel bill.

Kia muddies the value equation by commanding about $7000 more for the hybrid than the petrol version.

Sister brand Hyundai plans to introduce hybrid versions of its Kona, Tucson and Santa Fe SUVs, while Honda has a hybrid HR-V.

Honda has just launched a hybrid version of its HR-V SUV. Photo by Thomas Wielecki.

Buyers of the HR-V can expect savings of $414 every year when driving in a mix of conditions. If you drive mostly in an urban environment, you’ll save roughly $1000 a year.

Unfortunately, Honda’s hybrid costs more than $10,000 than the petrol HR-V. It does, however, have a more generous list of standard equipment.

Chinese brand Haval has petrol-electric versions of its budget-friendly Jolion small SUV and the bigger H6.

Originally published as Cars to slash Aussie motorists’ fuel bill revealed